#demon negotiation

[ya-kiri]

Manananggal.🥹🫴

[sl33py-g4m3r]

is there some sort of trick to demon negotiation or is it just simply "give them what they want if you can, answer the questions they ask" and pure RNG afterwards?

If it's pure RNG and I can understand that it's almost pure RNG and there's almost no trick behind it and just "crap happens" just like life; maybe hopefully I'll get much less upset if they fail.

tho if they fail and you kill them you still get item drops or exp

please let me have fun with SMT anxiety~~ the series looks awesome, hard but very fun~~

and demon fusion~~

get mazan anxiety.... blown far far away from me so I can enjoy something different~~~

also sucks that today I learned that there is DLC for SMTIV that I can potentially never get now because the servers are gone~~

T_T:: including some demons~~~

sorry for all the anxiety posts lately~~~ I hate it too~~~

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Emily: “I’m really sorry Vaggie didn’t feel comfortable coming back here. If there’s anything I can do to change that-”

Charlie: “Probably not! It was kinda a sign of her endless love for me that she visited haven again at all!”

Emily: “Oh! Oh that’s nice!!”

Charlie: “Which I NEVER would have asked her to do anyway, if I’d KNOWN the truth about her history up here!”

Emily: “Right. I’m so sorry about that too, by the-”

Charlie: “I mean, I’m not the kind of girl who askes her girlfriend to go spend an afternoon sitting across from the people who ripped off her wings! And her eye! And left her slumped against a dumpster looking half dead!”

Emily: “A… dumpster?”

Charlie: “Making the woman you love relive all that without even rEALIZING it would be pretty fucked up, wouldn’t it??”

Emily: “V- very.”

Charlie: “IT HYPOTHETICALLY COULD MAKE SOMEONE FEEL KINDA TERRIBLE AFTERWARDS, DON’T YOU THINK?”

Emily: “I’m sure it did!”

Charlie: “H Y P O T H E T I C A L L Y”

Emily: “Could! I could see that, yes, if it HAD happened, that would’ve been…”

Emily: “…”

Emily: “Are you- um, is she, errr.. doing better now?”

Charlie: “SO much better she’s doing SO great these days!!!!”

IN HELL

Vaggie: (lying face down on the hotel lobby floor) “I promise I won’t stop helping you morons when she dumps me. I won’t let her dream die just because I was dumb enough to think I could be part of it.”

Angel Dust: “That’s nice toots.”

Vaggie: “Thanks.”

Angel Dust: “Not sad or stupidly gay or anythin’.”

Vaggie: “Thanks.”

Cherri Bomb: “Sad? Angie, it’s perfect!” (takes picture) “I’ve been thinking this place could use a new rug…”

Niffty: (stepping on vaggie) “Squishy!”

Husk: “Get the fuck off her.” (at vaggie) “You, get the fuck UP.”

Vaggie: “Why.”

Alastor: “Hmmm, because this is PAINFULLY pathetic to watch, even for me?”

Vaggie: “Guess I’ll be here forever then.”

Angel Dust: “Vag-GAY c’mon, ya girlfirend’s not gonna dump ya. What’s the competition even!?”

Vaggie: “There’s an angel up in heaven who's helping Charlie work towards her life long dreams as we speak, and she's taller than me, got more wings than me, not as stabby as me, and also not a mass murderer or a liar or missing an eye.”

Cherri Bomb: "Hey!"

Vaggie: "No offence to the other one-eyed ladies here, but it's different when you've got a fucked up empty eye socket."

Niffty: (sighs dreamily) "I bet losing it hurt soooo baaaaad..."

Vaggie: "Never telling my girlfriend why I'd actually lost it or how it made me look like the deranged murder angel I was, even while she tried kissing it better for me, ended up hurting way worse."

Angel Dust: “That's a point….”

Angel Dust: “...alright, so Charlie’s PROBABLY not gonna dump ya-”

Niffty: “Oh that’s a weird sound!” (giggling) (bounces on vaggie) “I think she’s dying~”

Husk: “If you fucks kill her, I’m telling her demon princess girlfriend and pouring myself a drink to go with your fucking tormented howls.”

Vaggie: (muffled) “what if she’s my ex-girlfriend”

Husk: “…I’ll pour you a fucking drink and listen to your tormented howls.”

Niffty: “ME TOO I’LL LISTEN TOO!”

Alastor: “Dear one, perhaps if you were NOT standing on her skull and compressing her WRETCHED cries into the floor, we could be hearing them already.”

Niffty: “Whoops~ Heheheeh~”

Cherri Bomb: (recording it) “Damn, that groan’s been going on for ages… Bitch has some lung capacity on her.”

Angel Dust: “Point one for Vag-gay! Probs as good eating out as ya are at HOLDING out on ya girl!!!”

Vaggie: “uuuughhh…uaauuugghhaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaahhhhrrrgh..” (whimpers)

Niffty: “Okay.” (GIGGLES) “NOW she’s dying~” (bounces)

IN HEAVEN

Charlie: “Everything’s totally fine I have NO idea why you’d even ASK!”

Emily: “You’ve spent the entire time up here staring at pictures of Vaggie on your phone?”

Charlie: “I’m allowed to look at my girlfriend!”

Emily: “While crying and sniffling into your sleeve?”

Charlie: (sobbing) (desperately patting down her jacket) “SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHICH OF MY POCKETS HAS THE HANDKERCHIEF IN IT, OKAY??”

Emily: (smiling) “I think you two are going to be just fine.”

Charlie: (BLOWS NOSE LOUDLY INTO JACKET SLEEVE, which catches on FIRE)

Emily: “…..not your clothes, though. You might need a new set of those.”

[jinxed-sinner]

Since I’ve already made it abundantly clear that Lucifer’s touch-starved as fuck in To Preen An Angel’s Wings I need to add a scene at some point after his and Alastor’s deal is done and Alastor’s healed where Lucifer’s just feeling really down so he shapeshifts into a cat in an attempt to cuddle Alastor again (still completely oblivious to his own romantic feelings, but realizing at this point that Alastor his acknowledged some level of platonic care for him). Since Lucifer’s shapeshifting doesn’t change his appearance drastically there’s an exchange that goes something like this:

Lucifer, in his cat form: *curls up on Alastor’s lap, purring*

Alastor, knowing it’s Lucifer by his markings: Lucifer, I know it’s you. Get off of me.

Lucifer: *starts kneading Alastor’s thigh*

*Alastor’s ears lower, but he just accepts his fate despite his instinct being to throw Lucifer across the hotel lobby*

I think this could just be an entire chapter immediately following their deal being done where Lucifer’s just trying to get Alastor to acknowledge that yes, he cares, yes, they genuinely bonded while over the duration of the deal, and yes, Alastor cares enough to help Lucifer deal with severe touch-starvation, even if Lucifer has to be shapeshifted into an animal for Alastor to be genuinely comfortable with it. I also think it’d be funny if they experiment with what species makes Alastor most comfortable.

Lucifer, shifted into a deer: What about a deer?

Alastor: You realize I eat raw deer for breakfast?

Lucifer, shifting into a dog: What about a dog? Dogs are therapeutic, so it might be therapeutic for you too!

Alastor, visibly shaking: I think I’d rather die a second time.

Lucifer, shifting into a cat: Okay, a cat then? Cats increase humans’ lifespans, and their purring has healing abilities!

Alastor: Not that I care but I doubt Husk would be happy about it.

Lucifer, shifting into a goat and visibly annoyed at this point: What about a goat, the classic devil’s animal?

Alastor: Actually, I think I prefer the deer.

Lucifer: YOU IMPLICITLY THREATENED TO EAT ME IF I SHIFTED INTO A DEER

They do decide on a deer because it relaxes whatever deer instincts Alastor has and Lucifer is assured that Alastor doesn’t feel like eating him any more than he usually does if he’s a deer (prompting Lucifer to literally yell “THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN ‘ANY MORE THAN YOU USUALLY DO’???????”)

[breesperez139]

Dc x Dp Prompt #3

Immortal Ghost King Au:

Daniel Fenton was crowned as High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms on his 16th birthday. He knew many were opposed to him being crowned at such a young age (he was too), but the Realms had gone too long without a ruler and it was getting restless.

The Realms were sentient to some extent. It can not run itself as it has no form but it chooses a host, a King if you will, to fulfill its wishes. It may have lived on an entire millennia without a ruler, but it was only out of sheer luck and the contributions of countless gods that it had survived. The Infinite Realms needed a King and Danny Phantom was the only contender.

So the people were ignored and their boy king was crowned. However Phantom was young and naive, a child as both a human and a ghost. Even worse, he knew nothing about being a king. But the little godling would learn and learn he did.

Most kings were taught before they were coronated, but Danny had no such privilege. His coronation came and left with the wind. His private lessons overshadowed any thoughts he had left of mortal schooling. And Danny gave up on living a normal human life.

That last part was perhaps the easiest for Danny. Amity Park was already considered too liminal for them to have any “sentience”. The GIW had all but declared war on the Realms with their continuous violent actions upon his people and the land itself.

It wasn’t difficult for Amity to give up their “rights” and “humanity” either. They said good riddance to the world that never helped them, to the heroes that ignored their cries for help. And they bowed to Phantom, declaring him their King, just as he declared them citizens of the Infinite Realms.

He welcomed his liminals with open arms, vowing to protect them from any harm that would come their way, just as he would with any of his other citizens. He gave them a home in the Realms, an island- no a haunt of their own should they wish to truly reject the land of the living, and they accepted. Not many wanted to try their luck against the human government.

But with a God, no, their King on their side, they knew their safety and happiness was all but assured. After all, it was Phantom who protected them even as they turned their own backs at him. It was Phantom who fought against foes that could have erased him from existence.

And of course it was Phantom who would now receive any and all support he could ever want and need should he declare war against the humans of Earth. No, there was no need for people of the Infinite Realms to worry. High King Phantom was a God after all. It was only ever his right to exact divine punishment onto those who opposed and threatened his will. It was not their fault if the humans actively went against his will. No, the humans had no one but themselves to blame for whatever came for them.

[loriache]

honestly i'm kind of interested in the idea of laios in an arranged marriage. because obviously straight-up inherited monarchies are ...bad, to say the least! but it's what the characters are familiar with (even laios' father's extremely local, extremely minor leadership role is inherited, presumably through the male line). and it isn't just about what they think the best way to run melini is; in terms of ensuring that the other longed-lived nations respect melini's continued sovereignty, having it passed down in a manner that's close enough to their own ways for them to understand it and respect it is important. And it seems like most of the other nations have leadership through inheritance - thought that isn't confirmed for certain except with the elves.

Also, a marriage carries the potential to establish foreign allies - something melini is certainly lacking. A marriage could come with resources they'll badly need, treaties of mutual defence, money, legitimacy and political capital... not that these things can't be worked around, but if laios isn't strongly opposed, there are a lot of advantages! and i don't think he would be, because that's the framework for marriage (conferring practical advantages, building intracommunity relationships and providing a partner to do important work that he can't do) that he had grown up with. he isn't exactly a romantic and I doubt he's holding out for any sort of relationship of that nature.

Like, I don't think it's impossible that they would go with this path, because it's the most obvious and it carries a lot of advantages and it's what almost all the decision-making characters would consider normal and not objectionable. and it could be so interesting.

I think Laios would have major hangups if expected (i.e., by Marcille) to establish a genuine, romantic interest in a woman. Whether because of his sexual or romantic orientation, or just his own deep-seated trauma about rejection and being inherently disgusting and scary. And I think he'd hate the idea of having kids, too, and be very frightened of being like his father. But I don't think he'd refuse on that basis; he could cope with a marriage contract, with clearly laid-out expectations and responsibilities. And when it came to having a kid, I think he'd be reluctant to express that he doesn't want to do it, because he isn't naive and he understood when he agreed to be king it would carry responsibilities like this. It's clear from his nightmare that he already felt pressure from his parents to have children, probably magnified by the fact his father has got a position, responsibilities and wealth to pass on. Obviously he isn't a perfect martyr, so he might struggle when it comes to actually going through with it - but I don't think he'd actually, outright refuse. I think he might do it even though he doesn't want to, and I think that could be really messy in a way that appeals to me.

I don't know, there's something about negotiating these kinds of complicated situations that's interesting to me. and i love a platonic marriage. If they find a woman who has an interest in education, for example, and can work with marcille on setting up schools and universities. she'd ideally be politically savvy enough to be an able partner to laios: even though kabru can and would continue to do a lot of that, there are different spheres that a queen and a prime minister can work within!

how would their relationship work? maybe she finds laios' perspective on the world, and his frankness, unexpectedly liberating after an extremely controlled, cloistered upbringing. maybe she had a rebellious phase, has magic, or something else which makes her a relatively unpopular candidate for marriage - even as melini grows in power, i doubt that they'd be getting offers for the cream of the crop in terms of perceived value on the marriage market, because laios' relationship is a bit too ambivalent/monstrous for that, and melini too new. maybe she's a widow! an older woman, wouldn't that be cool - though they'd want her young enough that she could definitely still have kids.

certainly i think he'd be happy for her to pursue other relationships, though ideally in a manner that couldn't produce illegitimate kids. with other relationships in play, that's even more interesting. like, both kabru and toshiro have complicated emotions relating to infidelity. i think kabru would actually find it quite cathartic to be in the kind of high-status environment that rejected his mother for perceived infidelity, pursuing an affair that all parties consent to, though he'd likely be incredibly aware of the public image - since "image" is what he was rejected for. toshiro... i just really really love the way he'd feel about being the "other woman" in laios' marriage, considering his feelings about his father and maizuru. especially given how much closer he is to maizuru than his mother, being in her position...! his emotions would be so complex, it's incredibly tasty. i bet he'd make a bunch of assumptions about how laios' wife feels about it and be totally wrong, and that's so interesting. also, i think laios' wife should fuck marcille (she and falin have an open relationship).

[elf-kid2]

Stolas & Contract Negotiations

One thing I appreciate about "Oops" is that it gives us a chance to see Stolas playing HARDBALL with the negotiations!

Asmodeus's favorite Jester, Fizzarolli, is being held for ransom by a Mob Boss-- AND Striker, the Cowboy Assassin who kidnapped & tortured Stolas just last week, is involved as well!

They're on a time-limit! The stakes are high! Emotions are running high! They NEED these negotiations to go smoothly, if they want Fizzarolli back alive!

(Also, if Stolas plays his cards right, there's a chance that Asmodeus might reconsider his flat refusal to give Stolas, and by extension Blitzo, the crystal.)

So! How does Prince Stolas respond to this situation?

"Sire, you need to know the contents of this contract; you can't just sign it! A deal made with a Sin like yourself would be everlastingly binding..."

"This is a contract giving Crimson all of Ozzie's factory assets... And giving him permission to use Fizzarolli's head for a wall decoration!"

"Ooh, this will be fun! I love words!"

It's a life-or-death hostage situation. The proposed contract is twice as thick as Webster's Dictionary, and undoubtably filled with traps & the deadly sort of fine print.

Prince Stolas is making the demon-shark of a Mafia Lawyer sweat with his keen eye for detail. His superior, Asmodeus, is baffled and infuriated by the Prince's open delight at the prospect of combing through the pages and pages of fine print.

If YOU were thinking of signing a deal with Demon Royalty, would you be worried yet?

Let's take a look at what he does next...

The Mafia thinks they have them over a barrel. Sign the paper, give in to ALL demands, or the Jester dies.

Stolas is talking them down from taking *all of the King of Lust's factory assets* to "some" and ONLY SOME of the factories *specifically located in the Greed Ring.* Plus allocated funds. In exchange for the safe return of the hostage.

It's a deal they can all live with. They might even walk away happy with it-- and I wouldn't be surprised if he slipped in some fine print of his own, to give Asmodeus room to shift things more in his favor after Fizzarolli's safe return.

That might be part of why the Mafia Lawyer insists on re-reading the entire thing, come to think of it.

Faced with a Deadly Sin whose blood-lust is very clearly burning hot, this Lawyer decides to take his time going over every word of the new Contract that Prince Stolas drafted. A power move, for sure, but also...

This man decided to run out the clock and deliberately drag his feet over the process, rather than trust Prince Stolas's word about what the new Contract promised to and required of each party.

Deliberately drawing the ire of a Deadly Sin seemed like the better option to this lawyer, compared to signing the long, newly-drafted Contract unread.

He was playing it cool, right up until Asmodeus lost his temper-- right up until the somewhat battered & bruised Hostage walked through the doors at the last minute-- but once the facade is cracked, we can see that he's probably been sweating over these negotiations for a WHILE now!

Does this look like a Lawyer who's spent the past few hours sloooOooowly reading a Big Damn Contract JUST to revel in the feeling of POWER that comes from making Hellish Royalty wait?

Or is it a man who thought they could pull a fast one, and trick a powerful, but famously emotional King into signing a very bad, everlastingly binding contract...

...Only be faced with signing a CONTRACT drafted by Prince "I could eat Overlord Dealmakers for breakfast; your cute little stack of legalese looks like a fun treat!" Stolas?

Look the sheer delight on his face, when faced with a giant pile of paperwork. Look at Ozzie's reaction to Prince Stolas's gleeful approach to the life-or-death hostage negotiations.

This is the smile of a demon who KNOWS he can win at contract-negotiations. A Demon who DELIGHTS in fine print and heavy legalese.

"I love words!"

.

Stella had better have a damn good team of lawyers, if she wants ANYTHING from this Divorce, is what I'm saying.

Also, I wonder if/when Blitzo realized that the Full Moon Deal? Was Stolas being VERY generous by allowing for mutual gain. He had all the cards, re: access to the Grimoire, after all.

[goatwithaplan]

[stadam]

anyway thinking about adam coming down to hell to make use of the clubs, bars, brothels, etc. because these indulgences are banned in heaven, and he's the biggest hypocrite ever & doesn't see it as wrong when he's the one doing it. the communion wine just isn't cutting it, sorry sera :)

[yrisylvana]

someone said they'd be besties and i 100% agree

[ya-kiri]

Ouch, rejected.

[sl33py-g4m3r]

Happy over a stupid sounding thing~~~

Hope my new demon doesn’t die fast~~ shouldn’t be as excited as I am about this~~ cause it’s just core gameplay to begin with.

And a common demon in the first stratum of naraku so it would seem.

Need more life stones tho cause I only had one~~

Napaea obtained~~

And centaur isn’t dead this time ~~

Had to use dia on herself or she might’ve been dead~~ wanted to recruit the other thing but didn’t have enough bargaining material.

End conversation in fact does work~~

Hope anxiety doesn’t stunt my fun anymore ~~

Negotiations can be bullcrap, can also be scams or hilarious too. Such as life itself sometimes…

Sad to admit if negotiations go south I save scum… is that cheating? Got used to that in Pokemon when I didn’t have many resources and just kinda still do it sometimes… might not if I get far enough cause rip progression if I forget to save for a while.

Stupidly proud as I’ve never even played a persona game that far. I’ve only played a bit of persona 1 and didn’t get that far before I lost my data. Rip.

Jokes about baby’s first smt game and its iv. Or is smt iv relatively easy from a franchise prospective?

Really hope she doesn’t die and I have to recruit a new one cause despite being level 2, has much less health than centaur does. And I don’t think you can recall demons from the active party without switching it in for a new one in your stock.

Gonna be using dia on herself constantly I’d imagine.

Also got to get a handle on how the battle menu works~~ tripping me up still… it’ll become second nature eventually I’d think.

Excited about demon recruitment; turns into a long post anyway… hope it makes sense~~~ I think my posts can get quite scattered sometimes…

[lord-prey]

Some Jiro stuff

[falseficus]

seeing an awful lot of “I can’t read a novel, my attention span is too bad”/“I can’t watch a movie, my attention span is too bad”/ etc and while it’s not mandatory for you to do those things… you guys know that the way to improve your attention span is to do things that you think your attention span can’t handle and put effort into paying attention, right? you know that?

if you acknowledge that tiktok/social media/etc has made you attention span shorter, then it follows that you can do things to lengthen it again — it’s not just a fact you have to work around

like if you want to be able to do things and can’t… you can change that comrade you are the master of your own destiny

also start crocheting while you watch movies. my final message

[thorntopieces]

Demifiend is so autistic

[blackcurrant-juice]

*getting lost in tokyo*

"dont worry guys ive played shin megami tensei"